and joking. I was as calm: but I went out alone into the forest; -I walked-I ran; and when I came into the deer haunt, far-far in the forest ;-Oh! my heart burns to remember it ;—I stamped -I cursed-I screamed." It was an awful sight to contemplate the terrible havoc sin had made in this most fearfully passionate heart: her countenance told more of the reality of that violent storm in the forest than words could express; and she made no attempt at other expression. It must have been at least a minute, during which I sat in silent contemplation of her countenance; when at length she said "But I vowed a vow-Oh! such a vow!-I heaped up all the curses I could call upon his head, and his wife's; and then I vowed that I would have a husband too ;-he should not triumph in his insulting lightness. I would have married on the instant if I could-who should it be? I thought over every name that I could remember but seeing no certain way to an immediate marriage, I gave myself a year; and I sworeOh! such an oath !-that before that day twelvemonth I would be married too. It was the 17th of April :-every thing seems to fall out on the 17th of April, since that time, to me." The unhappy Emily Mills went on to detail to me, with much greater minuteness than I could now accurately call to mind, the circumstances of the eventful year which followed that 17th of April. It will be enough that I sum up all this part of her narrative, by stating that she described herself as rushing headlong into the most fearful recklessness; and as clasping to her heart the one desire of fulfilling her revengeful vow. She told me of two or three of the more remarkable instances in which she endeavoured to draw different persons into an engagement with her; and some most instructive escapes which she had from being the victim of her own devices. The year was rapidly passing away; and even the days of March were closing upon her. The description she gave of her restless misery was truly distressing. At last she spoke of him who afterwards became her husband. "There was a poor creature in the village-a natural one— who for years had looked upon me with a silly grin whenever he saw me. My sisters used to laugh about it, and say he was my lover, and that I should one day be Mrs. Mills. The creature had never come into my mind all this while; till a stupid joke of Mary's brought him there. It was on the first of April ;they sent me a mock letter from him-a love-letter-to make me an April-fool. They all laughed; and I laughed too but the 17th of April was near at hand; and my last hopes had fled VOL. II.-NO. XXII. Y with the insolence of the man I had been writing to," (referring to the last of the vile flirtations she had explained to me.) "The thought of William Mills rested on my mind :—I could think of nothing but my vow-the curses I had called upon myself if I broke it were haunting me. Oh! I found out the truth of the old saying- Curses are like chickens, they always come home to roost.' For a week I turned over in my mind the thought of marrying William Mills, and it grew upon me at last. I almost seemed to like it: but I put it off to the 14th of April : -it was a Sunday. I saw the man at church, and passed him walking home. In the evening I walked alone to his cottage, and met him near the door. He had been to work for some weeks at Little Hilton. I told him that I would be his wife, and bid him say nothing to any body: but go the next morning to the town, and get a license. I explained to him how to act, and gave him money. The fool laughed, and it disgusted me. I had well nigh taken the money back again: but it was the 14th of April; so I told him where to meet me the next night with the license, and turned away. I was like one crazed all that night, and all next day. He brought me the license; and I meant that we should be married next morning, for fear any body should know but in telling him what to do, my mind ran upon the 17th of April; and though I meant Tuesday, I said Wednesday; and I did not find it out until he was gone. Tuesday was a horrible day to me why did I not die that day! Wednesday he went early in the morning to Little Hilton; and at eight o'clock I went to the stable, and got the groom to saddle my sister's mare. He put me on, and asked whether he should go with me: but I galloped off. I never rode so fast in my life. I talked out loud, as though I was drunk. I laughed and I cursed,—yes, I cursed him who had mocked me. I was beside myself: but in an hour after, I was married to William Mills :-it was the 17th of April. "I rode back and told my father :-he foamed with rage. It was a pleasure to me to see somebody as full of rage as myself. He would have struck me, but I left the house. He never spoke to me afterwards, nor I to him; he is dead now." There was something in the tone of voice with which she spoke these last words, which told a thrilling tale of what was passing in her mind at the time; and she was silent after it for a little while. I had no mind or heart to interrupt that silence. She resumed, "But the worst is not told yet." Indeed the worst was not yet told: her account of it shall be reserved for the next chapter. PART SECOND. SUGGESTIONS FOR THE PASTOR WITH HIS FLOCK: THE PASTORAL CALENDAR. OCTOBER, 1843. FIRST WEEK. Oct. 1st.-Sunday. SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Epistle, Eph. iii. 13-21. Gospel, Luke vii. 11-17. First Lessons, Morn. Ezekiel ii. Afternoon, Ezekiel xiii. Second Lessons, Morn. Mark iv. Afternoon, 1 Cor. xvi. Suggested Texts. Morning Sermon-Isaiah liii. 3. (See Christ our Passover, No. 13.) Afternoon Sermon-Eph. iii. 14-21. THE SACRAMENT OF THE LORD'S SUPPER ADMINISTERED. 7th. Saturday. (General Union for Private Prayer.) SECOND WEEK. Oct. 8th.-Sunday. SEVENTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. THIRD WEEK. Oct. 15th.-Sunday. EIGHTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Epistle, 1 Cor. i. 4-8. Gospel, Matt. xxii. 34-36. First Lessons, Morning, Ezek: xx. Afternoon, Ezek. xxiv. Second Lessons, Morning, Luke i. 39-80. Afternoon. Gal. i. Suggested Texts. Morning Sermon-Rev. ii. 8-11. (See Compendium, No. 34.) Afternoon Sermon-Matt. ix. 2. 18th. Wednesday. ST. LUKE'S DAY. Lessons, Morning, Luke iv. Afternoon, Job i. Gal. iv. 21st. Saturday. (General Union for Private Prayer.) Oct. 22nd.-Sunday. FOURTH WEEK. NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Epistle, Eph. iv. 17-32. Gospel, Matt. ix. 1-8. First Lessons, Morn. Dan, iii. Afternoon, Dan. vi. Second Lessons, Morning, Luke viii. Afternoon, Eph. ii. Suggested Texts. Morn. Sermon-2 Cor. v. 17, 18. (See Text Paper, No. 40.) Afternoon Sermon-Dan. vi. 22. Oct. 28th.-Saturday. ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE's Day. (General Union for Private Prayer.) For Pastoral preparation-Phil. i. 29. FIFTH WEEK. Oct. 29th.-Sunday. TWENTIETH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Epistle, Eph. v. 15-21. Gospel, Matt. xxii. 1-14. First Lessons, Morning, Joel ii. Afternoon, Micah vi. Second Lessons, Morning, Luke xv. Afternoon, Phil. iii. Suggested Texts. Morn. Sermon, Luke xi. 2. (See Page 317.) Afternoon Sermon-Matt. xxii. 11-14. November 1st.-Wednesday. ALL SAINTS' Day. Second Lessons, Morning, Heb. xi. 33 to xii. 7. Afternoon, Rev. xix. 1-17. Nov. 4th.-Saturday. (Gen. Union for Private Prayer.) CHRIST OUR PASSOVER. No. XIII. TWENTY-FOURTH PORTION. (Read John xix. 1-9.) THE PRESENTATION. WHEN the Roman governor found that his proposal for the release of Jesus, under the customary privilege at the Passover, was rejected by the Jews, he endeavoured to obtain the same object in another way. In order to appease the violence of the people, he determined to inflict some degree of punishment upon the prisoner; by which he thought the present feelings of anger would be so far gratified, that an opportunity might be afforded for the exercise of cooler judgment; and perhaps also compassion might be excited in those who were less strongly influenced by the chief priests. With this view Pilate retired again into the hall of his Palace, and commanded that Jesus should be scourged. For this purpose he was delivered to the company of soldiers which kept guard at the palace; from these he underwent the severe punishment of scourging; his bare back being exposed to the lashes which they inflicted. When the soldiers had applied the allotted number of stripes, they indulged themselves in rude mockery respecting his claim to be a king, which they understood was the offence for which he was condemned. To those whose notions of kingly power were drawn from the Roman triumphs, and from the pomp and power of the Roman governors, it was a matter of ridicule and contempt to find the lowly and despised Jesus claiming to be a king; and after obeying their orders by scourging him, instead of restoring him his own garments, the heathen soldiers gave vent to their feelings of scorn, by dressing him out in such a manner as mocked the appearance of royal persons. They procured some branches of thorns, and twisted them together into a circle, which they put upon his head, in imitation of the crown which king's wear; besides this, they put upon him a robe of the purple colour which distinguished the clothing of royal persons; and having thus decked the patient Jesus, they paid him the respect which was usually given to kings, saying, "Hail, king of the Jews:" but they shewed the hard-hearted ridicule with which they thus treated him, by adding blows with their hands, to the mockery with their tongues. While Jesus was in this condition, the governor desired him to be led to the front of the palace, where the Jews were still waiting. Pilate went out to them again, and told them that he was about to bring forth the prisoner to them; protesting that he found no fault with him. Jesus then appeared before the crowd in the state in which the Roman soldiers had mocked him, with the purple robe upon him, and the crown of thorns upon his head. As soon as he came forth, Pilate presented him to the people, saying, "behold the man :" but the sight of him was the signal for an outcry against him, raised by the chief priests and the official persons, who had brought him to the governor; "Crucify him, crucify him," rang from the crowd. Pilate told them that if they wanted him to be crucified, they must do it themselves; for that he could not condemn a man in whom he found no cause of blame. The chief priests had not yet fully stated to the governor the cause of their condemnation of Jesus: they had at first endeavoured to obtain a ratification of their sentence of death, by saying generally that he was a person convicted of a capital crime; and after that, they had stated his offence to be the claiming to be the king of the Jews. Finding however that Pilate refused his warrant of execution upon these grounds, they now went one step further, and explained to him that there was a particular law amongst the Jews, by which the punishment of Jesus could be nothing less than death, for that he had declared himself to be "the Son of God." This information awakened a new thought in the mind of Pilate, and one which much encreased the alarm that he already felt at the thought of condemning him to death. He therefore wished to question this extraordinary person still further; and for that purpose he retired again to the inner hall of the palace, and desired Jesus to be brought in likewise. |